The Civil Code was clear the age of marriage should be 21, the dowry was illegal and immoral and marriage required the consent of both parties.

The traditional marriage (the so called lobolo in Southern Mozambique) the religious marriages (Christian, Muslim, and others) the civil marriage and the union of fact.

Nevertheless, every citizen may, prior to entering into marriage, opt for a civil or a customary wedding with his or her spouse.

In fact, polls show that 25 of the public support gay marriage and 35 favor legal civil unions for gay couples (the position advocated by Kerry).

Both the former and the revised Criminal Code established penalties for any person entering into a religious marriage before a civil marriage, as well as for the religious officiate at such a marriage.

Registration of the marriage by the officer of the civil registry is required by Articles 214 ff of the Guinean Civil Code.

Under the Civil Code, consent is a prerequisite for any marriage to be considered valid whereas under customary law it is not always required.

The Netherlands thus became the first country to open up the institution of civil marriage to same sex couples.

The Civil Code provides that free and full consent is the only requirement for entering into marriage, with no restrictions other than those relating to age, civil status, legal formalities and the absence of any legal obstacles to the marriage.

The Civil Code, particularly the Family Law that safeguards the ideal of a society based on patrilineal family unity, regulates the marriage.

In 2004, certain parts of the Québec Civil Code were amended to enable couples who were joined together in a civil ceremony to continue their life together under the matrimonial regime and to authorize the celebrant to proceed with their marriage despite the bond that already links them together.

According to Article 280 of the Civil Code, the minimum age for marriage is 18 years for men and 17 years for women.

She wondered whether the law provided for secular marriage and, if not, whether the Government planned to institute such a provision.

A registered partnership can be converted into a marriage and vice versa. To promote the emancipation of same sex couples, a bill was put before parliament aimed at extending civil marriage to individuals of the same sex.

Ms. Coker Appiah said that she welcomed the new Civil Code in Turkey, as marriage was a social institution in which women's human rights were regularly violated.

She wondered whether anyone could contract a civil marriage regardless of religion, and whether any woman, under any form of marriage, could obtain a passport, leave the country without her husband's consent, and take her children out of the country without the father's consent.

For example, in 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act.

The Civil Code respects the principle of complete equality between men and women for all questions having to do with the granting, withdrawal or loss of nationality, and it regulates the effects of marriage on the nationality of the two spouses and of their children.

Marriage is contracted on the mutual desire of the prospective spouses.

Registration of marriages

Marital Status

Marriage and Family

Early marriage

Forced marriage

Amended article 78 of the Code provided that couples could renounce monogamy during their marriage, with the result that the regime of the separation of property had become more common than joint ownership.

The Sino Russian Marriage

This includes marriage.

Early and forced marriage.

Marriage and divorce

This also applies to their status within marriage and their freedom to enter into marriage.

A minister of religion of a church, congregation or association of congregations who is granted the right to contract marriages by the Minister of Regional Affairs is equal to a vital statistics office upon performance of the functions related to the contraction of marriages and the minister of religion has the right to register marriages and issue marriage certificates.

The bill on matrimonial dispositions, successions and regimes has been pending approval by the Council of Ministers and the Parliament for more than five years.

This type of normative approach actually presents forced and repeated marriages.

16.15 Registration of marriages is contained in s1(5) of the Marriage Act (Cap 60).

Ms. Ngoma (Gabon) said that couples had the choice of opting for monogamous or polygamous marriages.

Marriage will not be contracted if a prospective spouse does not confirm his or her desire to marry or if a prospective spouse is not of the age to marry or if hindrances to contracting a marriage become evident.

I'm in love with you and I want to marry you.

I'm in love with you and I want to marry you.

They've decided to get married next month.

Gay marriage is legal here.

Marriage and divorce

A. Forced early marriages3

Minimum Marital Age

Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

Damian and Florencia end up getting married but he refuses to have a church wedding instead they have only a civil wedding in secret and without his mother when they go Mexico city to pick up Florencia's wedding dress.